Tacoma health systems discover suspected counterfeit N95s in supplies amid statewide search
The Washington State Hospital Association on Monday offered an update on counterfeit 3M N95 respirators distributed to area hospitals, first discovered via a federal alert issued Friday.
Hospitals in Washington state have submitted masks to 3M for analysis. Over the weekend, according to WSHA, 3M confirmed that at least some of the masks were not made by the company.
According to the WSHA in a news release Monday, “3M has flagged several lot numbers as potentially used by counterfeiters; these lot numbers are among the stock purchased by Washington State hospitals and by the hospital association.”
The association received an alert Friday from investigators with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, warning of the potential fraudulent masks. Cassie Sauer, CEO of the Washington Hospital Association, said Monday that an estimated 2 million of the fake N95 respirators may have been acquired by hospitals across Washington state, with 300,000 acquired by WSHA.
Counterfeit N95s have circulated in the U.S. market since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. 3M has created its own online resource to check for potential counterfeit masks.
Not meeting N95 standard means the masks may not offer enough protection filtering out airborne particles that spread COVID-19.
Sauer showed a sample mask to reporters during a briefing with reporters Monday.
“You can see that it has the 3M marking on it — it is a very very good fake,” she said. “The head straps are great; they’re secured on very nicely. The inside looks just like it’s supposed to.”
She said the association has bought the masks “from distributors — we absolutely believed they were 3M masks, and we received a notice from Homeland Security on Friday about this.”
Getting fraudulent masks out of circulation
The organization has been working with hospitals since Friday to help get the masks out of circulation. Sauer said the association still had many of the masks in a warehouse, untouched.
“I will say that anger level over the weekend was incredibly high. It’s just reprehensible depravity. We’re horrified,” said Sauer at Monday’s briefing.
June Altaras, senior vice president and chief quality, safety, and nursing officer for Tacoma-based MultiCare health system, told reporters at the Monday briefing that the health system had found masks matching the warning in its own supply chain, with a portion already distributed before Friday’s alert.
Making matters worse was the fact that the particular make of this mask was popular among clinicians.
“The 3M has been the most popular with our clinicians and others,” Altaras said.
“It’s been very challenging to find N95 respirators that fit people with particularly small faces. ... So we had them in many, many places I think that across our hospitals, we took back masks in over 500 different departments, and so they were broadly utilized across our organization.”
She added that “Fortunately, we had a different mask to switch out for our staff, so we spent the weekend collecting the counterfeit masks switching out to a different mask and fit testing our staff.”
Altaras said that for now, testing will be done to check on staff’s health.
“We are recommending to our staff that if they took care of a COVID positive or a rule-out COVID patient within the last 14 days, they receive testing,” Altaras said at Monday’s briefing.
Additionally, “Even if they didn’t take care of someone or if someone just really feels that they want to be tested, we will also support them in that decision to be tested, so that that’s all starting (Monday).”
Anger over distribution of counterfeit masks
Cary Evans, vice president of communications and government affairs for Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, told The News Tribune in response to questions Monday that the health system received notice of counterfeit N95 masks in the Washington supply last week.
“We evaluated all inventory across our sites and discovered some of our system’s supply included the counterfeit N95s. Fortunately, none of the impacted inventory was put into use, and has been sequestered and reported for further investigation,” Evans said via email.
“At this time, we have sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) to continue current operations, and we do not anticipate any supply shortages as a result of this issue.”
Altaras of MultiCare said the event had been yet another shock to health care workers already reeling from working on the front lines of the pandemic.
“I will say, to quote one of my colleagues ... ‘There’s a special place in the afterlife for people who would do this.’ Second only to the devastation to patients and their families that are impacted by COVID ... to have to reintroduce fear and anxiety to our clinicians who are out there taking care of their communities because someone chose to try to make money off of this situation is really highly frustrating.”
Evans of VMFH struck a similar tone.
“Actions that willfully impact the safety of health care workers on the front lines of this pandemic, and in turn the safety of our patients, are completely unacceptable,” Evans said Monday.
This story was originally published February 9, 2021 at 5:29 AM with the headline "Tacoma health systems discover suspected counterfeit N95s in supplies amid statewide search."
